THE BUFFALO AND HIS FATE. 169 



nearness of the frontier settlements to the resorts of each 

 herd. Enormous destruction has ensued in Kansas and 

 Colorado, and has had the effect to drive the southern di- 

 vision southward and south-westward into Texas, where 

 hunters cannot or (on account of Indians) dare not follow 

 them. They are, therefore, just now afforded a tempo- 

 rary rest from persecution ; but, unless legal interference 

 be quickly made and strict regulations rigorously enforced, 

 the fate of the buffalo south of the Platte will be a repeti- 

 tion of its history east of the Mississippi speedy extermi- 

 nation. 



As to the northern herd, while twenty years ago buffaloes 

 were accustomed to frequent the whole region between the 

 Missouri River and the forty-ninth parallel, from the west- 

 ern boundary of Dakota to the Rocky Mountains and even 

 far into their valleys, they are now restricted to the com- 

 paratively small area drained by the southern tributaries of 

 the Yellowstone, and northward over the most of Montana 

 to the Missouri. North of the Missouri River almost a 

 separate subdivision of the herd seems to exist, which feeds 

 between longitude 106 and the Rocky Mountains, and 

 northward to the wooded region of the Athabasca and 

 Peace rivers. Within thirty years they have become ex- 

 tirpated over half of this fertile region north of our boun- 



